


Shreddicus Maximus the Moon Cat

by timeless_alice



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Acquiring a Pet, Gen, Team pet, giant robots with a small cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 20:44:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13489410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeless_alice/pseuds/timeless_alice
Summary: Cerebros brings a kitten back to base





	Shreddicus Maximus the Moon Cat

Fortress Maximus, Max to his friends, had seen a lot. Been through a lot. The hero of Simanzi, guns in his legs and all; warden of Garrus-9, sole survivor of its staff upon liberation. Newly minted Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, trying to climb his way out of the hole the war and Overlord had dug for him.

The staff he found himself working with on Luna-1 were loyal, good ‘bots, even if Red Alert found any opportunity to cast doubt upon ex-Institute worker Cerebros. He liked it there. Even if Circle of Light members kept finding reasons to leave, and Outrigger found more enjoyment in exploring the ruins than interacting with any of them. Even as he found himself missing large amounts of company that he had grown used to; not so much the rank and file of the army, nor the strict hierarchy of Garrus-9, but the loose comradery that existed on the Lost Light.

Max wouldn’t say that he was feeling aimless, not by a long shot. His work had given him something worthwhile to do, and a way to constructively direct residual anger from being abandoned in Garrus-9. It was more that he was finding himself lonely, and still incredibly lost, even with the twice monthly therapy sessions with Rung.

So Cerebros returning to the base one day after a run for supplies with a small, wriggling felinoid trying to escape his hands to climb his chassis was a welcome, if strange, turn of events.

“Where’d you get that?” Red said, peering at the kitten with scrutinizing optics, as if the felinoid was a spying device that would sell them out at any second. In turn, she batted at his nose.

“Found her,” Cerebros said pointedly, exasperation edging his words. “She was wandering around and what was I going to do, just leave her there?” He wagged his fingers and she nipped at them, trying to catch one between her small paws. “And look, she likes me.”

Max stepped forward, putting out a hand. “Cerebros did you steal someone’s cat?”

There was an edge to his voice, one that said “we can’t do things like that, we’re law enforcement,” and in reply Cerebros gave him a look – a rather impressive feat, considering his lack of mouth – that said “you’re as bad as Red.”

“Yeah, I just stole a cat,” he said, out loud, sarcasm dripping from each word. “Of course I made sure she didn’t belong to anyone.” He shrugged. “And besides, I thought she’d be good company, considering how empty it’s been around here.”

He bent down to carefully put her on the floor of their departure room, and she stared at Max and Red with green optics that seemed too big for her head and had an almost unnatural glow to them. After a moment she slowly padded her way to Max, appearing to be hesitant enough to take it slow but curious enough to approach him anyway. He reached down, presenting his hand to her, a little too fast for her liking as she backed away. Max frowned, surprised at how upset he was for even possibly scaring the little thing, and almost pulled away, until she closed the distance and shoved her head against his fingers.

“Does she have a name?” he asked softly, transitioning to pet her between the ears, careful to keep his touch light so he wouldn’t accidentally hurt her. She made a contented “mrp”ing sound, the tip of her tail twitching, eyes narrowing until they were only slits of glowing light.

Cerebros paused, not saying anything for a long moment. There was something guilty about his expression. “I may or may not have started calling her Shreddicus Maximus,” he said, not looking at Max. “And she may or may not have taken to it.”

Max stopped what he was doing, even as the kitten headbutted against him for more attention. Red snorted, hiding an uncharacteristic laugh and a smile behind his hand.

“You did what?”

“I don’t know, it was a joke!” Cerebros held up his hands in surrender. “She’s a felinoid, she claws things, I don’t know it seemed fitting.”

“So what’re we going to call her?” Red asked, hands on his hips, leering towards Cerebros. “Shreddicus Maximus is a mouthful, and it’s not like we can call her Max.” He tossed a look in Max’s direction. “Unless Max changes his name and gives it to the cat.”

“No,” Max said. “Absolutely not.”

Shreddicus Maximus had given up on Max and moved on to Red Alert, who regarded her with a fair amount more wariness than a creature of her size warranted. But his whole demeanor softened, as she twisted between his legs and rubbed against him. He leaned down to offer a tentative pet, and she gladly rammed against his palm.

“We could just call her Gus,” Cerebros said. “Shreddicus sounds like it, kind of, and she’s a cat I highly doubt she cares.”

“Gus it is, then.”

 

With the Roboids gone and the threat of Sentinel past, Gus was allowed out of her quarantine and free reign of the base was rewarded back to her. She stalked around, exploring every nook and cranny as if she had never been there before, despite having only been barred access for a month or two.

 “…Is that a cat?” Prowl had asked, the first time he’d spotted her, napping in the middle of a hall, upon returning from his detour to earth. She was sprawled across its width, one paw curled near her chest and the other stretched out, lightly twitching in her sleep.

Max hummed a reply, leaning down to scratch her exposed stomach. She opened a single optic at him before closing it and stretching out her other paw, a low rumbling purr beginning in her chest. Max would have matched it, if his own purr weren’t so base-shaking loud. “Yep,” he said. “Her name’s Shreddicus Maximus, but we just call her Gus.”

Max looked at Prowl, who looked to be doing all sorts of Prowl-ish calculations in his head. Rules and all, whatever it was he did to be a thorn in everyone’s sides on technicalities. But when he spoke, he simply asked, “Why do you have a cat? I didn’t see her when I showed up.”

“That’s because we only let her in a few rooms the past few weeks,” Max said, straightening up to his full height. He looked down on Prowl. “We figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to have her running around loose when the Roboids were here.” Gus curled both paws to her chest, tail lashing, her purr still going strong. “As for why we have her, she hunts scraplets. We had a problem a while back.”

“…But she’s just sleeping.”

Max shrugged, a little defeated. Her being their official scraplet hunter, with the title of Duly Appointed Scraplet Hunter of the Tyrest Accord had been little more than a running joke among Luna-1’s crew; she was really just their cat who did barely anything beyond lazing around, demand attention, and yes, even catch the occasional pest. “I didn’t say she was any good at it.”

Prowl made a soft sound of understanding, nodding his head just slightly enough for Max to detect it happened at all. With no more attention given to Gus, he stepped over her and continued on his way.

Over the next few days, bordering on two weeks, Gus stalked after him. Curious of this strange, quiet ‘bot who seemed intent on ignoring her existence; if Max had to wager a guess, she was likely drawn to Prowl’s quiet, calculating demeanor. He was more like a cat than anyone else on the base. Max was just happy that there seemed to be no hostility between them, though there had been a silent agreement among Max, Red, and Cerebros that if a problem arose Prowl would have to be the one to go, not Gus.

But somewhere along the line, a few weeks after Prowl had joined their motley crew Max discovered something. He had wandered the base, looking for Prowl to discuss the finer points of a report they had received, when he heard Prowl’s carefully paced voice behind a door, talking to someone who never offered a reply, if there was anyone with him at all. Max knocked with a light hand, and Prowl stopped speaking for a moment, before saying with the faintest hint of embarrassment, “Come in.”

The door slid open and Max stepped inside, greeted by the image of Prowl sitting at a makeshift desk with Gus draped across his shoulders, her tail swinging lazily across his chest. Max and Prowl stared at each other, and Max couldn’t help but smile.

“Were you just using her for a soundboard?”

“She’s useful for getting my ideas sorted out,” Prowl said, in that matter-of-fact tone of his. He trailed a finger under her chin. “She’s good for that, if nothing else.”

It was as close as Prowl was ever going to get to admitting he actually enjoyed her company, too.

**Author's Note:**

> I've HC'd for a while that the moon crew have a team pet named Shreddicus Maximus (nicknamed Gus), but Max's line in the last issue about how he normally loves animals has only cemented that HC.
> 
> This isn't beta read so if you spot mistakes, don't hesitate to let me know
> 
> I'm timelessmulder on tumblr, if you want to say hey!


End file.
